USB vs PCI Express wi-fi? Edimax range.

[Antagram]

I have a dilemma between Edimax USB and PCIe wi-fi adaptor.
USB Edimax EW-7811Un
PCI Express Edimax EQ-7612Pln

I would prefer USB as able to transfer to any system, including old laptops if need be. But when I last used USB 7+ years ago the devices got pretty hot, so worried about connection stability and system load (especially with this nano size).

The PCI-Express wifi would be good for transfer to a new motherboard as PCI is getting replaced on micro ATX boards. And I assume it would perform better than USB, unless that is outdated information.

I don't need a strong signal, so USB shouldn't be disadvantaged much. Just long term usage I'm worried about.

[Skell]

From what I gather there will not be much difference between USB and PCI-Express wi-fi cards. The PCI-E board may get a bit lower latency and slightly higher throughput, but it will be very small if there is any difference.
I've used a USB dongle for about 6 months after the one in my laptop died and have no complaints, apart from I keep knocking it!

[Paulus]

May not be important but you might want to ensure your WiFi card is compatible with Microsoft's Virtual WiFi (assuming you use Windows 7). This allows you to create a wireless hotspot with WPA2 security. It does not appear as an "ad-hoc" network, as most other solutions do and you can both connect to a wireless network and provide a wireless hotspot at the same time (I believe). This allows you to share an internet connection (wireless or wired) via a personal WiFi hotspot. May not be a feature you would even think about, but it can be handy in certain situations (when you are limited to a single internet connection for whatever reason e.g. student accommodation, hotel). I don't know much about it other than the fact that the latest drivers for my Intel chipset support it.

See: http://www.istartedsomething.com/200...-wifi-support/

The full script I use is:

@netsh wlan stop hostednetwork
@timeout /T 2
devcon disable "PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_432B"  [my wireless network device]
@timeout /T 1
devcon enable "PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_432B"
@timeout /T 1
@netsh wlan stop hostednetwork
@timeout /T 1
@netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=PrivateWifi key=mysecretpassword
@netsh wlan start hostednetwork

You must also set e.g. your wired connection to share its internet connection with Wireless Network Connection 2 (or whatever it gets named).

A list of compatible cards can be found here (although note that you do not need to use the "connectify" product - its mostly just a user interface for the above script and actually gave me a BSoD several times):
http://www.connectify.me/support/ind...ode=view&id=13